Display hook



Sept. 20, 1966 R, 1, HODSON ETAL 3,273,844

DI SPLAY HOOK Filed Dec.

INV E NTORS P/:HA en .ff/0050# BY MAX Mrie #fram/K5 United States Patent O 3,273,844 DISPLAY HOOK Richard J. Hodson and Max Myers, Deming, N. Mex., assgnors to Auburn Rubber Company, Inc., Deming, N. Mex., a corporation of New Mexico Filed Dec. 14, 1964, Ser. No. 417,887 2 Claims. (Cl. 248-217) The present invention ,relates to mounting means for the display of goods for sale and more particularly to a strong but inexpensive bracket for supporting sale items hung therefrom upon particular types of display surfaces.

The display bracket of the present invention is particularly adapted for use upon corrugated material such as corrugated cardboard, and the like, which may be employed as a display wall in the sale of goods such as toys. Although it is known that corrugated cardboard, for example, is lightweight, strong, and relatively inexpensive so as to be admirably suited for advertising display walls or surfaces, certain diiliculties arise in hanging or mounting sales items upon such material. In order to utilize the maximum strength of corrugated cardboard, it is required that maximum forces thereon be directed longitudinally of the corrugations. Commonly, then, this requires the corrugations to be disposed vertically if goods are to be hung from the corrugated cardboard, as most of the force would comprise the weight of these goods acting in a generally vertical direction upon the material. Conventional mounting hooks or brackets which are well adapted for utilization with heavier wall structures, such as plasterboard, or the like, are not suited for use with corrugated cardboard, inasmuch as they tend to pull through the cardboard. The present invention is particullarly adapted for use with corrugated cardboard, and the like, for supporting substantial weights on the cardboard without damage thereto.

The present invention is furthermore particularly adapted to throw away applications wherein the mounting brackets hereof are provided with or employed with corrugated cardboard display units, which are intended to be destroyed after a single use. Conventional metal brackets, even if applicable for mounting upon corrugated cardboard are normally too expensive for this use, and consequently would require removal from the disposable mounting surface and reuse. Certain types of Inerchandising particularly applicable in the toy eld provides disposable display units or walls containing a large number of `sale items. These units are considered to be single use items of substantially no cost so that they may be disposed of after sale of the items, and replaced by a full display unit. This type of operation necessitates the utilization of very low cost materials and elements. However, a .rather substantial weight of sale items is carried by the walls, and the display bracket of the present invention is adapted to carry such weight without fear of pulling loose, and at the same time vbeing sufficiently inexpensive to be considered disposable. The display hereof is also extremely light in weight, which is further advantageous, particularly as regards shipping costs of loaded display units.

In the type of sales merchandising noted above, display units carrying sales items are shipped directly to retail outlets in loaded conditions, so that retail sales personnel are not required to handle any of the lsales items. Under these circumstances, it will be appreciated that the mountying means carrying the sales items should retain these items, even though the unit may be shipped on its side or upside down. It is unfortunately impossible under normal circumstances to prevent a certain amount of angular deviation of the unit from vertical during shipping, and one of the purposes of this type of merchandising would lbe defeated if the sales items were to become dislodged from the supporting brackets during shipping, for then it would be necessary for retail sales personnel to individually handle the items to remount them upon the unit. The present invention does present inadvertent dislodgment of sales items `from mounting brackets during shipping, for example. Reference is herein made to the prior cepending patent application Serial No. 389,897 entitled Disposable Display Stand and assigned to the same assignee as this application, for a description of the type of display unit briefly discussed above.

The present invention is illustrated as to a single preferred embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE l is a side elevational View of the display bracket;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the bracket of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of the bracket installed upon a corrugated mounting wall; and

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken in the plane 4 4 of FIGURE 3.

Considering now the present invention in greater detail, and referring to the drawing, it will be seen that the display bracket 11 is formed with upper and lower parallel plates 12 and 13 disposed in parallel offset relation with an integral perpendicular connecting section 14. The tWo parallel interconnected plates 12 and 13 form a back portion 16 of the bracket, and will be seen to dene a stepped structure in which the upper plate 12 extends upwardly from the rear edge Iof the interconnecting perpendicular portion 14 and the lower plate 13 depends from the .front edge of this portion 14. -Each ofthe plates 12 and 13 is formed with a substantial width for reasons noted below. The entire back section is adapted to be formed as a single unit of lightweight rigid plastic, or the like. In addition to the back stepped portion 16 of the bracket, there is also provided a forwardly projecting bar 18 having an upturned front end 19, preferably in the form of a point, as illustrated. This bar 18 extends from the top center of the lower plate 13 and is preferably formed integrally with the back portion 16. The bar 18 is also formed of lightweight rigid plastic and may be -molded with the back portion 16 in a single manufacturing step.

As an example of display bracket in accordance with the present invention, the upper plate 12 of the rear portion 16 thereof may have a width of an inch; a height of an inch and one-half to two incheswhile the lower pl-ate has a width of one inch an a height of two or more inches. The perpendicular interconnecting portion 14 has a length between plates equal to the thickness of the corrugated wall -upon which the bracket is to be'mounted. In a practical embodiment, this distance may be about one-quarter of an inch, so that the plates 12 and 13 are separated an amount equal to the thickness of the corrugated wall upon which the bracket is to be affixed. The rod 18 extending perpendicularly in front of the rear portion of the -bracket may have a length of the order of seven inches, and the upturned end 19 of this rod may extend about Aone-quarter of an inch above the rod.

In addition to the above-described portions of the bracket, there is also provided a sharp projection or tooth 21 upon the rear surface of the depending plate 13. This tooth is lformed integrally with the plate 13 near the bottom thereof, and extends from the plate a distance which is preferably about equal to the separation of the plates 12 and 13. This tooth 21 is tapered from the yback of the plate 13 to a point, and is formed With an upper knife edge surface perpendicular to the plate 13 and an under inclined surface, as shown, for reasons noted in detail below. The bar 18 is adapted to carry a substantal weight and consequently there is provided a brace therefor in the form of a solid triangle 26 which is preferably integrally formed with the bottom wall 13 and the bar 18 with one side contiguous with each, as illustrated. In this manner the bar 18 is provided with additional support so as to be enabled to transfer a majority of the weight carried thereby to the back portion 16 of the bracket.

Attachment of the braket to the wall is accomplished by turning the bracket to dispose the plates 12 and 13 in a horizontal position and pressing the top plate 12 through a slot 36 in the wall. When the plate 12 is fully inserted in the slot, the bracket is then rotated through 90 degrees, so as to swing the plate 12 up behind the wall 31 against the rear surface 34 thereof. With the plates 12 and 13 being offset with respect to each other a distance equal to the thickness of the wall, the front plate 13 will then lie flat against the front of the wall. As the bracket is rotated into the above-described position, the tooth 21 will pierce the front surface 33 of the wall to embed itself in the wall, as illustrated in FIGURE 3. In this mounted position, the rod 18 extends perpendicularly outward from the wall in a horizontal position for receiving goods to be mounted thereon.

Particular attention is invited to the manner in which the display bracket or hook of this invention engages the corr-ugated wall. Both of the plates 12 and 13 of the bracket have a substantial planar area which engages opposite sides of t-he wall to consequently distribute pressure over a considerable wall area. This is particularly important in connection with corrugated walls or panels, for although corrugated structures exhibit remarkable structural strengths, it has been found to be necessary to distribute pressure thereon in order to prevent puncture or crushing of the wall in a localized area. Wire brackets, for example, are wholly unsuited to this application, and it is important that the rear plate 12, for example, extend over a number of corrugations, for othewise it would be possible for the pressure applied by the rear plate to crush the skin 34 between corrugations, and thus weaken the wall and possibly allow a weighted bracket to tear loose from the wall. By the provision of both upper and lower plates, the mounting bracket hereof operates to provide a large area of wall upon which pressure is exerted, and because of the vertical alignment of corrugations necessarily provided as noted above, the bracket weight does not produce an unduly large bending moment on any particular portion of t-he wall. It is to be appreciated that a corrugated wall or panel, as illustrated, may be relatively easily bent along the direction of corrugations but strongly resists bending perpendicular to such direction. Furthermore, the present inventio nprovides for the application of pressure over the entire length and width of each of the plates 2 and 3, so that a total wall :area of the order of 3 or more square inches carries the bracket weight.

In addition to t-he above-noted planar engagement of bracket plates and wall there is herein provided for a piercing engagement of the bracket tooth 21 with the wall. As previously noted, the tooth 21 is formed with a point at the outer end thereof and a knife edge atop same. Consequently, as the bracket is pivoted into fully engaged position, the tooth first pierces the wall 31 and then cuts into same by the top tooth edge so that the tooth then fully enters the wall with a minimum of force to bind therein so as to lock the bracket in'mounted position.

In use, the display bracket or hook of the present invention is adapted to carry sales items upon the horizontal rod 18 extending outwardly from a corrugated display panel or wall. Commonly, these sales items may be bagged in a soft, exible, plastic container with a stiff top of cardboard or the like having a -hole therethrough. These bagged items may then be placed upon the bar merely by extending the bar through the apertured top portions of the bags, and with the vertically upturned end 19 of the bar the bagged items will not slide from the bar, even though the entire display unit with mounting bracket hereof be turned on end or on side, as during shipping. The pointed configuration of this upturned end 19 does, however, provide for ready removal of the bagged items by clerks or purchasers. With the tooth 21 embedded in the corrugated wall, the bracket is firmly anchored to the wall by pressure of the front skin thereof against the tooth, so that even though the entire wall be inclined or inverted, the bracket does not tend to release from the wall or pivot in the reverse of the mounting procedure. Additionally, the toothed engagement of the bracket with the wall provides just enough gripping action that the bracket does not become dislodged during removal of items from the bar 18 thereof. It will be seen that as the tooth pierces the wall by pressing the depending plate 13 flat against the wall, the front skin 33 of the wall is pierced and forced apart by the increasing lateral dimension of the tooth so as to exert a lateral pressure upon the tooth and retain it in inserted position. This is highly advantageous for the reasons noted above, and serves to add a further degree of utility to the display bracket or hook of the present invention.

It is again noted that the relatively substantial area of the two bracket plates 12 and 13 serves to adequately distribute weight of the loaded bracket over a sufficient area of the corrugated wall to preclude crushing of the wall and possible tearing of same, so that the bracket cannot become dislodged to sag or possibly even tear loose from the wall. Despite the relatively soft nature of the wall materials including skin and central corrugation, extensive tests show that the display bracket of the present invention does not crush or tear the wall, even though a very substantial weight be hung upon the horizontal bar 18 of the bracket when the latter is mounted upon a corrugated wall. There is thus provided by the present invention an improved and highly advantageous display bracket for the mounting of items upon a relatively lightweight wall or panel of minimum structural strength. Although the present invention has been described above with respect to a single, preferred embodiment thereof, it is not intended to limit the invention to the precise terms of the description or details of the illustration. Instead, reference is made to the appended claims for a precise delineation of the true scope of this invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A one-piece plastic display bracket for mounting of items upon a wall of limited unit structural strength comprising a horizontal portion having a length substantially equal to the thickness of a wall upon which the bracket is to be mounted and adapted to t in a horizontal wall slot, a fiat upper plate extending upwardly from the rear edge of said horizontal portion for fiat engagement with a back wall surface, a lower flat plate depending from a front edge of said horizontal portion for at engagement with a front wall surface and having substntially the same wall contact area as said upper plate, a three-dimensional triangular porjection from said lower plate directed rearwardly thereof with said projection having a pointed outer end with a thin upper edge and lateral sides tapering outwardly from said edge and a rear surface tapering outwardly from said point to a substantial lateral base dimension at said lower plate for piercing a wall to lock the bracket thereto, and a rigid horizontal bar extending substantially perpendicularly outward from said lower plate at the top thereof with said bar having an upturned outer end for carrying items mounted on a wall by the bracket.

2. A display bracket as dened in claim 1 further characterized by a solid triangular brace plate integral with said lower plate and horizontal bar for additionally supporting said bar.

(References on following page) References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Poupitch 248-235 Mapsn 211-87 Engert 248-29 Levy 248-223 Cardinal 248-217 Tichnor 248-223 Saxe 248-223 Klein 174-146 FOREIGN PATENTS 10 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner. 

1. A ONE-PIECE PLASTIC DISPLAY BRACKET FOR MOUNTING OF ITEMS UPON A WALL OF LIMITED UNIT STRUCTURAL STRENGTH COMPRISING A HORIZONTAL PORTION HAVING A LENGTH SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE THICKNESS OF WALL UPON WHICH THE BRACKET IS TO BE MOUNTED AND ADAPTED TO FIT IN A HORIZONTAL WALL SLOT, A FLAT UPPER PLATE EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM THE REAR EDGE OF SAID HORIZONTAL PORTION FOR FLAT ENGAGEMENT WITH A BACK WALL SURFACE, A LOWER FLAT PLATE DEPENDING FROM A FRONT EDGE OF SAID HORIZONTAL PORTION FOR FLAT ENGAGEMENT WITH A FRONT WALL SURFACE AND HAVING SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME WALL CONTACT AREA AS SAID UPPER PLATE, A THREE-DIMENSIONAL TRIANGULAR PROJECTION FROM SAID LOWER PLATE DIRECTED REARWARDLY THEREOF WITH SAID PROJECTION HAVING A POINTED OUTER END WITH A THIN UPPER EDGE AND LATERAL SIDES TAPERING OUT- 